In this instance, Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson has allowed his deputies to put the outline of a small cross on their patrol vehicles’ rear windows, according to the district attorney for the area including the county.

The sheriff’s move was criticized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Its attorney, Sam Grover, called it “inappropriate and unconstitutional for a government entity to display a Latin cross on its property because it conveys a preference by the Sheriff's Office—and by extension, Brewster County—for religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all minority faiths.”

The foundation called on Dodson to “abandon his plan for the religious decals.”

The sheriff’s office “responds to all issues, calls, and citizens without regard to religion or belief,” Ponton emphasized.

Paxton earlier issued a legal opinion supporting the Childress Police Department’s display of “In God We Trust” on its patrol vehicles, saying the department would prevail in a court battle on the issue.

The governor, who had supported the “In God We Trust” motto, also backs the crosses in Brewster County, said Abbott spokesman John Wittman.

“The Constitution demands respect for religious expression rather than hostility towards it and Governor Abbott fully supports Sheriff Dodson’s decision to allow his deputies to display the Cross on their patrol vehicles,” Wittman said by email Tuesday.

Abbott has successfully pushed to remove from the Texas Capitol underground extension a takeoff on a Nativity that came from the Freedom from Religion Foundation. It featured the Bill of Rights in a manger, surrounded by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the Statue of Liberty. The display promoted the separation of church and state while praising “reason and the Bill of Rights.”

In addition, Abbott weighed in after the city of Orange decided to remove a Nativity scene outside its city hall. The city’s decision followed a request from the Orange County Atheists asked that a “happy holidays” banner also be hung there, the Beaumont Enterprise reported.

“I strongly encourage the City of Orange to stand up to the demands of a select few who wish to see God thrown out of the public square, embrace the season of Christmas and restore the Nativity scene immediately,” Abbott said then.